Subject: Re: Taking, Making, Creating Images
We're just gonna have to disagree. I know it's possible ... as I said, one must pay attention to a myriad of details. Surprisingly, some of what I learned that has helped me get repeatable results I learned from you, Bill, both wrt technique and equipment. Other things I learned from other printers. Remember, Bill, my original mentor was Ray Belcher <LOL>
You just haven't run into a neg that has left you totally bamboozled the second time around. I've only had it happen a couple of times, both times when using specialty papers that may not have had the best QC regarding their curves. The temperature of my house might vary more than yours too.
I'm pretty anal in the darktomb about making notes, especially when I am running a neg that is both a bugger to print, and one that I want to be able to get a repeatable result from. Mostly, it works out, but there are no absolutes in this world.
William Robb
I'm going to have to agree with both of you on certain points. With a good negative and little manipulation in the darkroom results should be reasonably repeatable using good darkroom techniques. The more difficult the negative and/or elaborate the darkroom manipulation, the more difficult (though not impossible) it will be to exactly match the original. My PUG this month is a good example. The original took me 25 sheets of paper to get right. The shadow was exposed for about 6-7 seconds, the highlight for about 3½ minutes. If I still had the negative I would be hard pressed to duplicate the result, even though I'm a better technician now. The original post talked about the perfect print. I could probably turn out very acceptable prints, but if you looked hard enough you would find differences.
My 2 ¢
Butch
